Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 8.djvu/408

 334 NOTES AND QUERIES. [i2s.vm.APHiL23.i92i. SOME ULSTER RHYMES (12 S. viii. 292). I trust I may be acquitted of pedantry if I demur to the Ulster rendering of our Scots rhyme about the Borrowing Days. It hurts me that the prosody of the original should have been so dislocated in crossing the Irish Channel. The version current in the Borders runs thus : March saith to Averil, " I see three hoggs on yonder hill. If thou wilt lend me dayes three, I'll find the means to gar them dee." The first day it was wind an' weet ; The second day was snaw an' sleet ; The third day it was siccan freeze, It froze the birds' nebs to the trees. When these three days was past and gane The silly hoggs cam hirplin' hame. * MB. ARDAGH spells " hogs " with a single "g," which means "pigs"; but "hoggs" is the term for sheep in their second year. HERBERT MAXWELL. Moiireith. The rhymes relating to terminal March weather are dear to Scots on both sides of the North Channel. See Chambers's ' Popu- lar Rhyines of Scotland,' pp. 368, 369. " Barley bread," &c., is new to me. ST. SWITHIN. THE Ro x YAL HORSE GUARDS (12 S. viii. 293). In John S. Farmer's ' Regimental Records of the British Army : Titles, Cam- paigns, Honours, Uniforms, Facings, Badges and Nicknames,' published by Grant Richards in 1901, there is the following information concerning the uniform and bibliography of the Royal Horse Guards : Uniform. Blue with scarlet facings (from 1661). [This is the year in which this Royal Regiment was established.] Plume, Red. Bibliography. ' An Historical Record of the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards, or Oxford Blues : Its Services and the Transactions in which it has been engaged from its First Establish- ment to the Present Time.' By Edmund Packe, late Captain Royal Horse Guards. (London : Clowes, 1834/') The British Museum Catalogue gives 1847 as the date of the publication of this book ; this may refer to a second edition. W. B. WHITE. 4, Canterbury Road, Colchester.' Has COLONEL HOWARD consulted the fol- lowing : Arthur (Sir G.). ' Story of the Household ; Cavalry.' 1909. 2 vols. Illustrated. Cannon (Richard). ' Historical Records of the British Army.' 1834-47. With coloured : plates. Goddard. ' Military costume of Europe.' 1812. 2 vols. Fo. With 96 hand-coloured plates. Richards (Walter). ' Her Majesty's Army/ ! [Circa 1885.] 3 vols. 4to. With coloured plates. If these prove inadequate, an inquiry more helpful. W. JAGGARD, CAPT. DOUBLE FIRSTS AT OXFORD (12 S. viii. 249, 294). It is hardly correct to speak of " double " firsts." In some cases at any rate those mentioned in the list took " quad- ruple " firsts (i.e., in Hon. Classical Mods., Hon. Math. Mods., Lit.Hum., and the Final Hon. School of Mathematics). This is true of the last two names given, viz., the present Bishop of Chichester and the late Charles Stennett Adamson. It may be a debatable point whether there is greater merit in taking firsts in two Final Honour Schools closely following on one another or four firsts at longer intervals, but certainly there are only very few men who accomplish the latter feat. W. H. S. THE QUALITIES OF FEMALE BEAUTY (12 S. viii. 247, 297). Brantome, in his ' Vies des Dames Galantes ' gives the lines enumerating the thirty qualities in Spanish, which he says were told him by a Spanish lady in Toledo " la ou il y en a de tres- belles, bien gentilles et bien apprises/' He gives a French translation of them. The edition of Gamier Freres (no date) has a footnote to the effect that the lines are taken from an old French book, ' De la Louange et Beaute des Dames,' and that Franois Corniger rendered them in eighteen Latin verses, while Vincentio Calmeta had also translated them into Italian verses beginning Dolce Flaminia. T. F. D. BOOK BORROWERS (12 S. viii, 208, 253, 278, 296, 314). This original verse is the book-plate of a friend of mine. You may read it, or mark it, Digest it, or learn it ; May like it, dislike it, Accept it, or spurn it ; I don't care which you do If you only return it. W. COURTHOPE FORM AN. MR. McGovERN may be interested to know that the lines quoted on the book-plate of Benjamin Bury appear, with slight varia- tion, on 33 book-labels of other owners in my possession. R. E. THOMAS. Beeleigh Abbey, Maldon, Essex.
 * direct to the Librarian, War Office, London,
 * S.W.I, might reveal other reference -books